Malpractice – Medical Malpractice Statistics

In this article, we’ll go over some very alarming statistics on the growing problem of medical malpractice.

There is a very good reason why ambulance chasers are called in by attorneys. Most of them specialize in what is known as medical malpractice lawsuits. The rate at which these suits increase each year is staggering. To fully understand the seriousness of this problem, we must analyze some numbers.

Of all the malpractice lawsuits in the United States last year, nearly 50% of them were against surgeons and other physicians representing just 75 of the largest counties in the United States. This is according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which is a very good source. This shows that the main problem with these suits is found in the most densely populated areas of the country, which is where the most income is generated. This cannot be a coincidence that the more money you make from these lawsuits, the more lawsuits there will be.

Another 33% of malpractice lawsuits in the United States last year were against non-surgical physicians in the 75 largest counties in the country. Adding these two numbers together, you get 83% of all medical malpractice lawsuits in the United States last year were against just 75 counties. There are literally thousands of counties in the United States.

Of all the cases that went to trial, only 27% of them were won by plaintiffs in these 75 counties. This is a great indication that most of these malpractice lawsuits are not legitimate, otherwise more cases would be won.

Last year there were nearly 19,000 reports of medical malpractice payments in the US According to the Annual Report, National Practitioner Data Bank, US DHHS This is an absolutely staggering number.

It is estimated that about 25% of all physicians in the United States are sued annually. This means that if you are a doctor, especially a surgeon, you have a one in four chance of having a lawsuit every year that you are in practice. Makes you wonder why anyone would want to be a doctor in this country.

It is also estimated that between 50 and 65% of all physicians in the United States are sued at least once in their career. That gives you less than 50% chance to advance your career without incident.

What is even more astonishing is that of all the reports of malpractice payments made around the world, more than 80% of those payments were made by doctors in the United States and the rest of the world represents only 20% of all payments made due to negligence.

Even interns are not immune to this problem, as over 1,500 negligence lawsuits were filed against interns last year alone.

There is no doubt that these statistics point to an alarming and growing problem in the United States. Unless steps are taken to prevent fraudulent lawsuits, which are many of these, the problem will only get worse.